Luna Louska just misses track record in Clarksville; Coppola sets track record in Garrett

Horseshoe Indianapolis’s turf course, as firm and fast as grass can be, became a no-passing zone Friday, when Coppola and Luna Louska scored front-running victories in $100,000 sprint stakes.

Luna Louska came first, setting a breakneck pace, 21.09 and 43.03, in the Clarksville Handicap and still somehow increasing her lead from the stretch call to the finish. She won by 2 3/4 lengths while running five furlongs in 54.62, .05 seconds off the course record.

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Coppola set a track record one race later in the William Garrett Handicap. Hounded through the first furlong by a forest of fellow front-runners, Coppola shrugged them all off, turned back an inside bid from veteran turf-sprint warrior Charcoal in mid-stretch, and went on to a two-length victory. Off impossible fractions of 21 and 42.65, Coppola was timed in 54.39, besting the track standard of 54.57 set by Oxford Comma in October 2018.

Coppola ($4) won the Garrett – a handicap in name only, as was the Clarksville – by 6 1/2 lengths a year ago when the race was rained off grass. Vincent Cheminaud rode Coppola for trainer Dale Romans and owners Hammer Time Stable and SOK Racing. Bred in Kentucky by Fifth Avenue Bloodstock, 6-year-old Coppola is by Into Mischief out Blind Copy, by Distorted Humor. Nine-year-old Charcoal ran gamely in defeat, finishing one length ahead of third-place Bear River.

Trainer Gustavo Delgado had Luna Louska cross-entered Sunday at Ellis Park in an turf sprint restricted to 3-year-old fillies but made the right call taking on older foes in the Clarksville. Dashing straight to the lead under Joe Ramos, Luna Louska never had an anxious moment, easily holding off second-place B G Warrior. Crown Imperial, the 4-5 favorite, finished a neck farther back in third, closing mildly after coming under heavy pressure a long way from the finish.

Luna Louska paid $5.40 as the second choice and has won three in a row after being switched first to Tapeta and then turf after two hapless tries on dirt. Owned by JR Ranch, Marquee Bloodstock, and High Step Racing, Luna Louska is by Complexity out of Jamaican Smoke, by Latent Heat. She was bred in Florida by Ashview Farm.

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